A Few Days in Pictures

We've been in Piracicaba for a few days now, and we're not sure how much longer we'll be staying. Here's a little of what we've seen and done since we arrived.

Community Gardens (Hortas comunitárias) – Gardens on plots of land right within the city which provide the surrounding neighbourhoods with fresh leafy greens. This one is just around the corner from our house and they grow lettuce (alface) , arugula (rúcula) , collards (couve) and swiss chard (almerão). Definitely cooler than Food Basics :).

Barbecued banana (Banana assada) – There happened to be a churrasco (Brazilian-style BBQ) for the group of Brasilian students that Jessica taught in London this summer (we are staying with the teacher that brought all of them. She and her family have been so incredibly welcoming since even before we arrived!) I got to eat my beloved coração (chicken heart) yet again (that was for you Karla!) as well as lots of other meats and salads. I’ve never been a huge meat-eater, but I have to admit that I’m liking churrascos more and more. For dessert we had something I’d never tried before – they barbecued a banana, sprinkled cinnamon and then added ice cream with nuts and a bit of caramel glaze. I thought this was a dessert right up Hannah and Joel and Dave (Marcus’) alley . . . it would have gone well with our last meal together, eh?

Off-road motorcycle racing (Enduro) – The son of the family we are staying with had a race this weekend and we met up with him at two of the stops where the racers re-fuel (with gasoline and food). They start early in the morning and have to ride all day, following a special kind of map through all kinds of terrain. What’s really interesting about it is that it’s not a race for speed, but an endurance race. There are specific posts where their time is noted down, and they have to aim to pass those points at an exact time. It’s better to be late than to be early. If you pass earlier than the ideal time, it’s minus two points for every second, but if you’re late, it’s minus one point per second. The person with the fewest faults is the winner. It was a cold, wet day but we couldn’t very well complain about how we felt after seeing all the shivering, muddy drivers come in.

A wood burning stove (Fogão a lenha) – On our way back from the first re-fuelling station we stopped to have lunch in the country at a restaurant called Leite do pé da vaca (which quite literally means Milk of Cows Foot . . . I’m probably losing a little in the translation :). The food we ate is apparently very typical of Minas Gerais, the state above São Paulo. We had feijoada (a dish of beans, sausage and meat), mandioca (yucca), and doce de abóbora (pumpkin that’s been cooked down with sugar and spice and is mmm, mmm delicious) among other things . . . It felt so nice to eat a warm meal after having stood outside for a while. The way the food was kept warm on this wood stove was also a welcome sight coming in from the cold.

VW Beetles (Fuscas) – This is a shot just outside the restaurant. VW bugs are so cool-looking. They even make parking lots look scenic.